In this first episode of the second season I have my friend James Clear of JamesClear.com.
James writes and teaches people how to instill lasting habits. I’ve been reading his work for years, and these is no doubt that his writing has helped me to become a better coach.
After 6 years of writing, he’s releasing his first book called Atomic Habits. So, while everything is super fresh in his mind, I decided to have him on to give us advice on the best ways to set training and nutrition habits.
- Subscribe via iTunes or Stitcher. (Here’s the direct RSS feed URL for other players.)
- Listen on Soundcloud.
3 Key Points
- Standardize your habits before you optimize
- Reduce the steps needed for a task to encourage good habits
- Focus on the success of habits over a longer time scale
Show Notes
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Why is Andy bringing a non-fitness professional onto the show? James Clear is a popular writer about forming habits. Andy knows the key to getting in great shape comes down to habits. James Clear is also the number one referring website because of this Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting. [3:00]
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How did James get into writing about habits? It started in two different ways. First, James is an athlete that has an interest in baseball and competitive weightlifting. Second, James has a degree in biomechanics (basically chemistry and physics) and further education in business. For several years James was “incubating” his skillset by trying out different businesses. From an interest in marketing, James then starting researching consumer and behavior psychology. Finally, this rabbit hole led James to the creation of a document on habits. [5:00]
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How did James write quality content so consistently? The first thing James attributed was having a focus on two articles a week. James poses that you can let quality (how good), scope (how much), or time (how long) be the basis for your habits. James kept the focus on publishing something on Monday and Thursday and tried to let the quality and scope be less of the motivating factors. Now, this did not prevent James from putting out poor quality work but it did mean sometimes he would only publish one paragraph. James sees the parallel in the gym. When you train four days a week, something needs to happen. A habit must be established before it can be improved. Sometimes showing up on the bad days is actually the best thing you can do. [9:00]
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Did James find showing up on bad days actually made them not so bad? Absolutely, James thinks that sometimes you don’t have the mental energy to judge yourself on bad days so you can sometimes perform better. Habits are easy to dismiss on any given day. James suggests forming habits that compound to your benefit instead of to your detriment. The real effects (example: showing up to do 5 squats on a bad day) only become apparent over a long time span. [14:00]
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How can you lock in your behaviors? Andy mentions that he pre-orders his salad every morning so he gets in his greens. James calls this action a commitment device for locking in future behaviors. Another way is to make a one-time decision to lock in future decisions. An example would be a better mattress for sleep. Combining these strategies you create an environment where willpower isn’t needed as much to meet your goals. [17:00]
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Is waking up and hitting the gym first thing in the morning the best way to form a habit? James suggests there is no best one method to form a habit. The time of day really depends on the time or season in your life. Maybe you are trying to meditate in the morning when you are trying to get your family out the door. James suggests people should try to master the “two-minute rule.” Scale down the activity to a shortened amount of time but do it consistently. Think about optimizing for the starting line instead of optimizing for the finish line. If people jump into an intense exercise program, they often fizzle. When you can set the standard of showing up to the gym for a few weeks it becomes much easier to optimize what you are doing at the gym. James likes to use the phrase, “standardize before you optimize.” Make a small version of what you would like to do a standard in your life before you try to optimize what you would like to do. [21:30]
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What is “priming the environment”? Andy suggests organizing your gym gear in a such a way that makes it easy to go to the gym. For example, always having your gear a the front door or in a backpack. James also offers a tip of having an extra set of gym clothes in your office drawer to remove points of friction. Andy also talks about using batch cooking as a strategy. James suggests mapping out the activity, identify what bothers you and then change the environment. The general principle is to increase the number of steps between you and a bad behavior and decrease the number of steps between you and a good behavior. [26:00]
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Is James’ book just repurposed content from the website? The short answer is that the book is between 80% and 90% new content. On a blog, ideas can be like a spider web. In a book, it needs to be chapter-based. The book uses an overarching framework. [35:00]
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What is “habit stacking”? You use the current behavior as a cue for a future behavior. James mentions the example of placing a book on your pillow before you shower to encourage more reading. [37:30]
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What’s James’ favorite song of 2018? The Ringer by Eminem. [39:30]
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Was James a male model? False. [40:30]
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What is the biggest misconception about forming new habits? It takes a certain number of days to build a new habit. This is a misconception because it depends on the habit you are trying to form and as soon as you stop doing the behavior it is no longer a habit. Habits do not have a finish line. Andy mentions it is important not to be too hard on yourself but avoid occasions becoming habits. James suggests looking at longer time scales instead of getting caught up in every peak and valley. [41:00]
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Is it worthwhile to break bigger habits down into smaller habits? Habits are important because they happen often and shape future automatic decisions. There are decisive moments that determine the next chunk of time (example: pulling out your phone). The most powerful way to establish a bigger habit is to distill the behavior down to the decisive moment and master that behavior (example: don’t take out your phone). [46:00]
Show Links
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Beginner’s Guide to Intermittent Fasting – Popular guide on James’ site
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Atomic Habits – James’ new book
Thank you for listening! – Andy
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The post James Clear on How Small Habits Can Lead to Remarkable Results appeared first on RippedBody.com.
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